It has been very educational. It has been a season where I have suffered a bit of injury and illness (and crashes!) But I have been cycling many big rides and it has been good and fun challenges in a row. But I wish I had been more stable fresh and fast.

The health issues were knee infections and saddles sores due to new pedals and saddles respectively.

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When I've been in good shape, I've felt stronger than I did last year in some of the bigger rides. Especially part of the 1.1 rides I have cycled, I have known that there is no level I have trouble with. But there have been no fighting results because I've driven a lot of helpers too. Like I did for Sondre in the Norwegian rides and also a lot abroad.

I knew I did not get the same freedom that I got last year in Coop. Then I ended up at a wave peak and could float in tailwind and it has not been as easy this year because of a few different factors. But now I can sit down and look at what can be done differently and what was the difference with last year with regard to driving and the things there. And come up with concrete suggestions to avoid injury and illness and perhaps avoid the stupid rolls.

If Google translate isn't letting us down he says that the team will use the "same equipment next year".

In other news the team was interested in Toupalik, but he has extended with Correndon. Turek is also mentioned in the article. I think it says he was promised a new contract earlier in the year, but nothing has been signed yet.

good performance by Badilatti in Hainan today, let's hope he can build up on that next year .

Looks like Davide Cimolai is likely to be another signing for 2019. It's not confirmed yet, but Cimolai said that he found a new team, and he started following both Bikegeeeks and Carlström on Instagram a couple of days ago.

Cimo is a good rider of course with a lot of experience, but not exactly what the team needs, I would say

I think he is a bit more than just a sprinter, more of a hard man, and also with a chance to get good results in races like Sanremo, maybe Plouay, Vattenfall and so on. But that's probably still pretty far away from getting a podium, let alone winning a race like that. And what do you get for finishing 8th...

Let's not forget that ICA doesn't need more guys for the Poggio, they actually had an excellent MSR last year, launching the winning move (albeit not winning) + August Jensen was there ready for for the final finale but someone rammed his derailleur and he couldnt get the right gear for the sprint.

They do need 28 sprinters! at least! (This team-with-no-midfielders sickness has spread across the Arabian peninsula from I believe)

Interview with Margaliot about the team's link-up with Cotes d'Armor. Just two points of interest.

#1 "Next year (2019), our main goals will be: the Giro d'Italia, the California Tour Amgen and the new Tour of Israel."

They must have a got a 2 for the price of 1 deal at the RCS sale. Seriously though, while their showing at the Giro was a bit unforgettable with only a few stand out days, I do think their performance through the year showed that the invite wasn't totally without sporting merit.

#2 "We set ourselves the goal, with the management of the Côtes d'Armor, to sign one or more before the end of 2019 for the Pro team and I do not speak of Israeli runners!"

A repeat of an earlier statement, but who? Renard is the obvious candidate, but he hasn't renewed with the team yet and has actually started following Chambery on twitter. No news about Balfour or Poisson either. From the six that have signed so far, possibly Axel Flet (24) is the pick of the bunch.

This is a counter-argument to the "Why hire all these fast guys? " and it links in with expanding the team to twenty nine (!) riders i think. The hope is that they can be competitive with multiple riders worldwide over the course of the whole season and that the top-ten scorers will be enough to beat Cofidis/Wanty to those auto-wildcards.

It kinda works as an argument to an extent, but of course climbers can win points too and decent lead out men can help those fast guys get better results.

When it comes to scoring points though, the sprinter/classic guys do seem to have the system weighted in their favour.

The top-ten in the European Tour rankings for 2018 contain Hofstetter (1st but with only one win!), Dupont (3rd), Pasqualon (6th) and Dehaes (10th). The best PCT climber is Sosa down in 11th who had a pretty good year by all accounts. Maybe this is something the UCI needs to look at.

When it comes to scoring points though, the sprinter/classic guys do seem to have the system weighted in their favour.

Maybe this is something the UCI needs to look at.

But how?Award more points to mountainous races on account of their mountainousness?If a 2.1 stage race has mountains, it automatically gets points as if it were 2.HC?

Now, that wasn't entirely serious.

But the UCI really should reconsider awarding the exact same amount of points for a stage race GC (and no matter if it's two days or eight) as for a one-day race. Maybe even give more points for individual stages compared to the current points scales.

My first idea was to simply add X points per extra day (say, 5-10 percent of the points for a one-day race per day). Then I realised that this wouldn't be as easy since the lower ranks get only a few points (3 points for 40th in a .HC race), and adding even just a single point per day would be a whole 33 %. But since the UCI loves to award decimal points in TTTs, why not do it for stage races as well?!

In my opinion, that doesn't skew the balance towards GC guys by so very much. It's only an extra 35% for a race that lasts eight days as opposed to one day.

Points for stages (often won by sprinters) could should be increased as well - it's ridiculous that a 1.HC sprint victory gives 200 points while a sprint stage win in a 2.HC race gives only 20. I don't see a problem with doubling that (and simultaneously giving points to not only the stage podium, but the top-5 or even top-10).

EDIT:Oh, and by the way, the pre-2005 World Ranking did have differing points scales for one-day races and stage races. It was only when the ProTour/WorldTour and Continental Tours were introduced that the points scales were 'simplified'.

Looking at the 2003 rulebook, the winner of what was then a 1.2 race (e.g. GP Miguel Indurain, now 1.HC) got 80 points. The winner of a 2.2 stage race (e.g. the Giro del Trentino, now 2.HC as Tour of the Alps) received 120 points - a whole 50 % more!

Yes, I guess I'd have been better saying that Sosa was the best placed PCT stage racer rather than climber.

No matter what you do though it will never be fully balanced. Cycling just has too many variables. Stage races vs classics, two day races vs ten day ones, early season vs peak season, European Tour vs the ROTW and a big one in start list quality. Hainan gives the same points as Algarve, Fuzhou (or Sibiu if we want to stop bullying China) the same as Valenciana even though the start lists are astronomical units apart in quality.

I don't think we'd see anything as crazy as teams turning down invites to "big" races in Europe so they can rack up the points in Ballybackofbeyond, but there's room definitely for some judicious picking of the lowest hanging fruit.

As for #2, that's true no doubt if he's talking about Quintana or Porte, but there are cheaper alternatives that could do well in .HC and .1 races.

And, if we're honest, they also can't afford sprinters who can do well (i.e., win) in WT races. You may get lucky once in a while, especially if you have a dozen sprinters, but Minali, Van Asbroeck, Räim, or Ávila aren't the same calibre as Gaviria, Viviani, Kittel, or Cavendish.

In my opinion, signing this many sprinters is a conscious choice - not one dictated by budget constraints.

Diaz might feel a bit hard done by. He has shown some improvement and was a big help to Hermans in Austria, but crucially I think he didn't show enough when he had a free hand. Badilatti is an upgrade, but the climbing dept is definitely not overstocked now.

As I mentioned before, Schreurs is the type of rider that all teams need, but are also very replaceable. To use a footballing analogy, being a good guy to have in the changing room/on the bus might be what got him the nod.

Sylvan Adams is determined to bring his team to the Tour de France by 2020.

The way he sees it, there are three ways to get there. First, his team can finish among one of the top two spots in this year’s team rankings among the Professional Continental league, and earn an automatic wildcard berth to all three grand tours for 2020, which includes a spot in the Tour. Option two is to sign a big-name rider who could entice a grand tour to invite ICA, a scenario that opens doors but provides no guarantee. Or, he could merge with an existing WorldTour team hungry for new financial partners.

Minali and Cimolai - Their presence in the team (along with some lira) no doubt helped secure the wildcard, and as we saw last year with Sbaragli, a lack of form won't necessarily harm your selection. As long as they're not injured, they'll be there.

Hermans and Plaza - The sprinters might get placings, but these two are the best shot at a stage win. Last year only two and a half breaks were successful, but maybe this year it will play out differently.

Two Israelis - It might just be one, but I think two is more likely. I can see Niv getting another shot and then one of either Sagiv or Roy Goldstein.

It's not very exciting, but then the ICA media person is at least getting paid (I hope) to watch it.

Probably not the smartest comment to make anyway while your team is out riding there, it could very easily be taken as a slight on the race. Will they make a similar statement in the middle of the very, very pan flat stage 10 at the Giro? I don't think so.

If they have a point to make, they'd be better off making in general terms rather than while talking about a specific race.

If they've still underperformed by the start of April, there may be some cause for getting worried - but until now, everything has been nothing more than glorified training races: Nice to get a win in, but not really something anyone will remember in the long run.

Still mainly true, but if you've pinned your colours to the mast re: the 2020 auto-wildcards then you really need to hit the ground running with two or three guys.

There has been some bad luck. Hermans got caught up in the crash on the first day in Mallorca and then on day three he punctured while bridging to Buchmann with Higuita and Wellens (who went on to win). Dunne was ill at San Juan.

Brandle and Barbier (plus his helpers in the sprints) the disappointments so far. Brandle's excuse was the heat and to be fair to the Frenchman, there was some improvement through the course of the week of his sprinting/train and he looked quite attentive and aggressive on stage one when there was echelon action.

Valenciana (thankfully no TTT this year) and Besseges are up this week.

With sprint stages all over today, best results for Sondre Holst Enger with a top 10 (finishing 8th) in Valenciana. In Bessèges, Tom van Asbroek came close with a 9th (but the sprinters in Valenciana are better).

As for the new classissisimo, Davide Cimolai finished 10 minutes down in the Valenciana stage, with a couple of the Israelis. I guess they were thrown off the wagon on the same hill where Groenewegen disappeared - and then decided not to bother with helping sprinters.

Sondre Holst Enger seemed to be operating solo without any leadout and started his sprint to early due to wrong information about the distance from the roundabout to the finish line ( DS said it was 100m but it was definetly longer.)

The new boy band is in town! However that sock-short combo ain't gonna get Raim many screaming female fans.

These are the guys for Colombia (+ Roy Goldstein?) and despite the presence of two new signings, this is very much old-school Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeks with no WT cast-offs. Top-5 in the sprints and getting in the breaks should be the main target. It would be a bit much to expect Badilatti to be duking it out with Bernal, Lopez, Quintana et al.